From: Susan Richmond <susan@webspan.net>

Hi everyone,

Molly's decided that Happy NOW is just not enough, she want happily ever 
after.  Alex and the gang are working on finding Molly and Danny. 
Richard seems to have some sort of plan to help Nick. Here we go.......

				THE CITY UPDATE
		           Thursday, October 3, 1996


RICHARD AND NICK
Location: Nick and Buck's apartment.

*Richard is knocking on the door. Nick, who's got his guitar with him, 
lets Richard in.  He apologizes for taking so long to answer the door, 
but he's moving a little slow after all the wedding excitement 
yesterday.  Maybe Nick's body is telling him to take it easy, Richard 
says.  His body may be saying that, but his soul wants to play, Nick 
replies.  His soul better rest, too. "Where I'm going, kid, that's all 
they do." Richard hates it when Nick talks like that.  Richard has been 
talking to some specialists about Nick's condition. "They all told you 
the same thing, huh, take that transplant and shove it." "No not quite", 
say Richard. Nick tells him to face it, his days are numbered.  Richard 
doesn't understand Nick, he sounds like "a man waiting to die".(A good 
lead-in to the next scene, where we see Danny tied to the bed, see 
below)

*Nick goes and puts his guitar away in it's case. He admits that the 
thought of dying scares him to death.  No one would know it by the way 
Nick acts, Richard says. He'd like to postpone it as long as possible, 
but wishing it won't happen or ignoring it won't make it go away.  "The 
best thing I can do is look it in the face and accept it."  Richard 
respects Nick's attitude, but that doesn't mean he has to accept that 
Nick's going to die. They walk over to the small bar in the apartment, 
where Nick pours them a couple of selzers.  A lot of people are behind 
Nick, including Sydney.  Has Richard talked to Syd yet, Nick wants to 
know. No, Richard hasn't made his peace with Sydney yet. Nick tells him 
he ought to do it soon.
 
*Why, is there something wrong with Sydney, Richard asks. Nick tells him 
that Sydney is planning to move to London for good. Richard is obviously 
surprised, Sydney never said a thing about it to him. Did Richard give 
Syd a chance to, asks Nick. Whether Richard forgives Syd is his 
business, but Nick tells him that Syd realy does love him and someday 
Richard is going to need someone to lean on. "Yeah, she may be able to 
do something for me", says Richard cryptically.(Richard goes to see 
Sydney, see below) 

*Nick is alone in his apartment, lying on the couch listening to the 
radio - WNYR, downtown Manhattan.  The next song is a request from Nick 
River's new release "Live at the City Bar". "Nick Rivers is back and 
better than ever." They start to play the song and Nick says "I was 
pretty good, wasn't I?"

LITTLE MOLLY MALONE - THE MASQUERADER?
Location: Sydney's penthouse

*Sydney is just coming through the door. The maid, Maria, apologizes for 
letting her in, but a woman from the police department insisted on 
staying and talking to Sydney. She's waiting in the living room.  Sydney 
sees Det. Dolan standing there and tells Maria everything's fine. Det. 
Dolan tells Syd they know who killed her husband, and now she has Danny 
Roberts. "She?", Sydney asks.  "Molly Malone", Det. Dolan tells her. 

*"Molly? Little Molly killed my husband?" Sydney can't believe it. And 
now Molly's going to do the same to Danny?  Syd always thought Molly had 
a problem, but she can't believe Molly was behind everything.  She's not 
really Molly Malone, Det. Dolan tells her, her real name is Sandra 
Carlson. She borrowed the name Molly Malone from her best friend, who 
the police believe she also killed. Det. Dolan came because she thought 
Syd might have an idea where Molly took Danny. Syd hasn't seen either 
one in a couple of days. The last she saw them, Danny was going away 
with Molly because Molly was scared and frightened and afraid 
she....afraid she might be next.(Sydney realizes how ironic that is, 
since Molly's the Masquerader)  Syd asks if Alex knows about this.  When 
she finds out that Alex has known since last night, she's upset that 
Alex never called her.  She leaves with Det. Dolan to go find Alex.
 
*Sydney (who's down in her office after visiting Alex, see below) is on 
the phone with the police, asking them to put more cops on the case to 
find Danny.  She's pay them for the overtime or make a donation, 
whatever it takes to find Danny. Richard comes in as she hangs up the 
phone. He heard she was going away. Syd didn't tell him because she was 
sure he wouldn't care. She's right. Richard would like to speak to her 
about something else, it has to do with Nick. 

ALEX MASTERS, P.I.
Location: Tony and Danny's apartment

*Alex and Joc are working on Danny's taped message from the answering 
machine.  Alex has it connected to his computer to try to make the 
background noise clearer. Alex plays the message, but Joc doesn't hear 
anything but Danny's voice.  He rewinds and plays the end of the message 
again, but all she hears is a click. Alex tries to magnify the sound 
using a computer program. Tony and Ally come in. Alex thought they were 
with the real Molly Malone's mom.  They were, but Molly's mom left and 
went to the police station.  Molly's mom confirmed what Alex and Joc 
found out in Portland.  "She's prone to dangerous obsessions", Ally 
says. Tony tells Alex that when Mrs. Malone heard that her daughter had 
been killed, she immediately suspected Sandra.  She thinks that Sandra 
did something to the brakes of Molly's car.  Joc wants to know if they 
found out anything that could help Danny.  They did find out that Molly 
usually strikes only when she feels abandoned.  This doesn't make Joc 
feel better. "That's fantastic Tony. So what you're saying is, as long 
as they're getting along, Danny's safe, right?", Joc snaps, then 
apologizes. Ally tries to make Joc feel better by saying that if Danny 
and Molly are getting along and are happy, everthing will be fine.  And 
what if Danny does something to make Molly/Sandra mad, Joc demands.She's 
not going to feel better until Danny's back.  She asks Alex to play the 
tape again.  She thinks she hears the noise this time, it may be their 
only chance to save Danny.

*Alex is still fiddling around with the computer to magnify the noise, 
but all you can hear is static.  Tony suggests slowing the tape down. 
Syd storms into the apartment, demanding to know when Alex was planning 
to tell her about Molly.

*Alex asks Syd if they can discuss it later, they're right in the middle 
of trying to track down Danny. She want to talk to him now. After all, 
she's the one who paid Alex to find "this maniac" in the first place. If 
Alex had been doing his job, he would have investigated "Little Mary 
Sunshine" instead of taking her at face value. Alex asks her to leave so 
they can get back to work, but Sydney says it's her building and she 
goes where she wants. "And I get the feeling that you want to go, NOW", 
Alex suggests, opening the door. She'll go, but if anything happens to 
Danny, it's their responsibility. Sydney leaves.

*Alex has slowed it down as much as possible.  They play it again, but 
still can't figure it out. Ally says it sounds like a man's voice. Alex 
filters out all of the background noise. Now they can hear "Downtowner 
Hotel". Tony's got it. That's where he took Molly when he was hiding her 
from his brother, Joey. And Danny went there too, it was the first time 
he and Molly were ever together. Molly must think of it as their special 
place, exclaims Ally.  All four of them rush for the door.


AND THEY LIVED "HAPPILY EVER AFTER"??
Location: The Downtowner Hotel - Molly's room

*Danny is tied to the bed, trying to convince Molly they could be happy 
together, if she unties him. Molly's afraid to untie him. He asks her to 
remember when she visited him in jail, she would tell him to have faith. 
Now he's asking her to have the same faith in him. They'll leave the 
country together, they're not that important that the police will keep  
looking for them for long.  Danny will get fake ID's and they will get 
married. They could be happy, starting right now, but she has to untie 
him. Molly agrees that they have to leave, but she doesn't untie him.  
She tells him she's going downstairs to rent a car.

*Danny almost grabs the phone with his left hand, but it falls to the 
floor.  Molly, who obviously never left and was waiting outside to see 
what Danny would do, comes back in the room.  Danny lamely tries to tell 
her he was trying to get loose to come and help her. Molly slowly walks 
toward the bed and tells him that he disappointed her, he was going to 
leave her just like everyone else. "I can't let you do that", Molly 
tells him.

*Danny tells her he was just going to get them packed, but Molly calls 
him a liar, she's sick of the lies. Shut up, she yells at him. She pulls 
a roll of duct tape from the drawer, but can't tear a piece off. She's 
goes over to her bag and pulls out a BIG pair of shears, they looked big 
enough to trim bushes with. (The name Lorena Bobbitt sprung to mind as 
she was doing this:-) Danny offers to get her help. "I don't need any 
help", Molly growls, cutting off a piece of tape. Snip! Danny says she 
should turn herself in to the police now, that way they'll send her to a 
hospital for help. If they have to catch her, they'll send her to jail.
"I don't need a hospital because I'm not sick, damn it, I'm not sick", 
Molly yells at him, holding the shears close to his face.

*She's already been in a hospital in Portand, they put her in, but she 
wasn't sick, Molly says, walking away from the bed. There were all these 
crazy people there who would scream and cry at night and she couldn't 
get any sleep. Danny tries to tell her there are other, better 
hospitals, but Molly's not listening. She tells Danny about her friend 
Tommy, that as soon as the people at the hospital saw she was getting 
close to Tommy, they wouldn't let them eat together or be in the same 
room alone.  Tommy was her only friend, no one came to see her or wrote 
her letters. "Molly", Danny says loudly to get her attention. Molly 
turns around to face him. He tells her that her really cares about her 
and if she checks herself in for treatment, he'll come and visit her. No 
he won't, Molly says, he'll be too busy in London with Sydney to care 
about her. But Danny turned down the job with Sydney to be with her. 
They can be together if she'll "end this now". (I think that this will 
turn out to be a very poor choice of words) "It does have to end", Molly 
agrees.

*Molly always knew it would have to end. "I mean, why settle for Happy 
Now, when you can have happily ever after."  Danny agrees with her, not 
realizing what she means. He'll be right there with her, he says.  Yes 
he will, because Molly will make sure of it. "What do you mean by that", 
Danny asks suspiciously.  "I'm taking you to a very special place. A 
place where we'll never be separated and we'll always be happy." "Wait a 
minute, Molly", Danny says in panic, finally realizing what Molly plans 
to do. She puts the tape back over his mouth and tells him everything is 
going to be fine.  He struggles and tries to call her name as she checks 
to be sure the window is closed and stuffs a towel under the door. 
"We'll lay down and go to sleep, and when we wake up, we'll be in a new 
place. A beautiful place where no one will be able to separate us 
again". She starts the gas from the heater leaking and goes to lay down 
next to Danny. "And you know something Danny, I'm finally happy now", 
she says, laying her head on his shoulder, smiling.

LOD: Sydney[about Molly] I'll tell you, that kid was a lot better       
                   actress than I gave her credit for.

That's all for today. See you next Thursday!

-- 
Susan

FCC Tony


